270 / 338
THE PRESIDENT AND
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Mr. Ralph J. Walker of Dublin has been elected
President of the Society for the coming year.
Mr. George G. Overend and Mr. John Maher, both
of Dublin, have been elected Vice Presidents.
ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
An ordinary general meeting of the Society was
held in the Library, Solicitors' Buildings, Four
Courts, Dublin on Thursday, 24th November, 1960.
The President, Mr. John J. Nash, took the chair.
The minutes of the ordinary general meeting held
z6th May, 1960, were read, confirmed and signed.
On the motion of the President, seconded by
G. G. Overend, Messrs. Kevans and Sons were
reappointed as the Society's auditors.
The Secretary read the report of the scrutineers of
the ballot for the election of the Council and provin
cial delegates for the year 1960-61.
The report
stated that for the office of provincial delegate the
following had been returned unopposed ; Ulster :
Derrick M. Martin ;
Munster :
Edward Treacy ;
Leinster : Reginald J. Nolan ; Connaught: Francis
Armstrong.
The foregoing were declared duly elected.
The result of the ballot for the 31 ordinary
members of the Council was as follows :
John R. Halpin, 482 ;
John P. Carrigan, 478 ;
Augustus Cullen, 467 ; Arthur Cox, 466 ; John J.
Nash, 461 ; Niall S. Gaffney, 455 ; Thomas A.
O'Reilly, 445 ; Desmond J. Collins, 435 ; Peter E.
O'Connell, 429 ; Eunan McCarron, 428 ; Francis J.
Lanigan, 420 ; William J. Comerford, 410 ; James J.
O'Connor, 410 ; Patrick O'Donnell, 393 ; Robert
McD. Taylor, 388; James W. O'Donovan, 386;
Terence de Vere White, 386 ; George A. Nolan,
384 ; John Maher, 383 ; George G. Overend, 381 ;
Ralph J. Walker, 377 ; John J. Sheil, 376 ;. Patrick
Noonan, 376 ; DinnenB. Gilmore, 373 ; Brendan A.
McGrath, 372;
John Kelly, 369; William A.
Tormey, 363 ; Thomas V. O'Connor, 359; James
R. C. Green, 321 ; Peter D. M. Prentice, 301 ;
Brendan T. Walsh, 265.
The President declared the foregoing members of
the Society duly elected to the Council in accordance
with the scrutineers' report.
\
The following candidates received the number of
votes placed after their names:
James B. MacGarry, 232; Francis A. Gibney,
184; Elizabeth Wright, 152; Raymond V. H.
Downey, 135 ; Max W. Abrahamson, 107 ; Martin
E. Marren, 106.
The President moving the adoption of the report
of the Council said,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before dealing with the business of our Society
I regret to say that since our last meeting death has
taken many of our former colleagues—Michael E.
Knight who was president in the year 1935-36;
vice president in the year 1927-28 and a member of
the Council from 1925 to 1945 ;
John J. Dundon,
who was a member of the Council from 1936 to
1946 and a provincial delegate from 1948 to 1957 ;
Arthur Blood-Smyth, who was a provincial delegate
from 1934 to 1948 ; District Justice Coffey ; James
Coghlan ; William Franklin ; Luighaidh P. Gleeson;
Dermot J. Hanly; Edmund W. Mooney ; William
J. Murphy ; Miss Adelaide Quin ;
Samuel Roche
and Laurence Walsh. Our profession is the poorer
for their loss. The true function of our profession
is to further the rule of law and to bring peace,
order and harmony into the lives of others. Many
of those whose names I have mentioned have a
noble record in that regard. Their story is not
graven only on stone over their clay.
It abides
everywhere without visible symbol woven into the
warp and woof of other men's lives.
To their
relatives I express the sympathy of myself, my
Council and our Society. Ar dheis De go raibh
a n-anamacha.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
It is important in a free
society that there should be an independent body of
private legal practitioners with autonomy in their
profession. History, and especially modern history,
shows that whenever a tyrannical power wished to
impose its arbitrary will on a community, it began by
subjugating the legal profession. This was done in
Russia in March, 1918; in Czechoslovakia by an Act
on the 2Oth December, 1951; in Hungary since
September, 1958 and in Poland by a Statute of the
27th June, 1950. A similar state of affairs exists in
East Germany. In all these countries, the control of
the legal profession was taken over by the Ministry of
Justice and the private practice of law was for all
practical purposes eliminated. The lawyer's work in
these countries is now done through Legal Aid
Offices, which are legal entities under the control of
the Ministry of Justice. The general pattern is that as
a general rule a person may select the lawyer of his
choice. The fee is not paid to the lawyer but to the
Legal Aid Office. The lawyer must not accept from a
client any remuneration of any kind. The salaries of
lawyers are fixed according to Schedules of the Minis
try of Justice. Not only is the lawyer not allowed to
engage in private practice, but he is not even entitled
to choose the Legal Aid Office in which he would like
to carry out his profession. The Legal Aid Centre
establishes the Legal Aid Offices and determines
whether and to which Legal Aid Office a lawyer is
admitted. By the direct control which the Minister